As a classic of state dismantling once declared, “the process has started”. But it will take at least two weeks to reach the final point – restoration of the pre-crisis “status quo” on the Moldovan chicken meat market.
In a conversation with Logos Press correspondent, the Moldovan partner of MHP noted that the management of the Cherkassy poultry farm of this agro-food holding, in an effort to unblock its supplies to Moldova as quickly as possible, did not enter into lengthy disputes with the Moldovan agency ANSA for “better knowledge of procedures and regulations”. About two weeks ago, under the supervision of the Ukrainian phytosanitary agency, the factory employees selected, sealed and documented the necessary (representative) number of samples, which were sent for examination to an authorized (by the competent EU authority) laboratory in Latvia.
About a week ago, the Ukrainian operator received the results of the analyses, as expected – fully compliant with the EU regulations. They were forwarded to ANSA. As a result, as noted above, after time to study the documentation, the signature of the head of the Moldovan agency was obtained and will allow the barrier at the border to be raised.
As a consequence, according to the local partner of MHP, presumably on Tuesday of the next week the poultry farm in Cherkassy will start shipping products – frozen and chilled chicken – to Moldova. That is, if circumstances are favorable (for Moldovan trader and consumers), the products will appear in wholesale and retail trade next Thursday-Friday.
For sure, the sender will not be able to reach the previous volume of deliveries at once (however, he does not aspire to it out of caution). After the introduction of the Moldovan embargo, the factory reoriented the supplies intended for Moldova to other, less demanding markets, including the European Union.
When will the rest of Ukraine’s poultry farms reach the Moldovan meat market?
According to the MHP representative, the export of poultry meat to Moldova was carried out from two factories, another one supplied the country with semi-finished meat products (nuggets, strips, cutlets, etc.), which were produced only from the meat raw materials of this holding. That is, one or two more factories of MHP (there are five of them in total) for authorization of export of products to Moldova need to carry out sampling, their examination in the reference laboratory of the European Union and further on in a circle.
The nuance is that the factory in Vinnitsa is the head, largest and most modern (built in the middle of the last decade) production facility of the agricultural holding. Perhaps, for this reason, the factory management makes economically insignificant decisions, such as launching administrative procedures for the sake of resumption of supplies to Moldova, not too promptly. Or perhaps the enterprise considered it unseemly for itself, being the largest poultry farm in Europe (authorization for export to the European Union, USA, Canada, Japan, etc.), to prove its non-involvement in the “bad export” of products to Moldova.
A very important circumstance is that MHP is a vertically integrated agro-food holding with a full cycle – from its own production of fodder and hatching eggs to finished products. Accordingly, suspicions of non-compliance of any of the links of the chain with safety standards is a greasy stain on the business reputation, which is not worthy and not easy to launder. In general, relations with the Moldovan agency ANSA are a very sensitive and delicate issue for the holding company from now on.
At the same time, it should be noted that not all of the other (two) companies of Ukraine, which previously exported poultry meat to Moldova, have a full cycle of production – “from fork to fork”. Therefore, it can be assumed that they are unlikely to be in a hurry to prove their innocence in the very “bad exports”.
What will happen to prices?
Or rather, it has already happened. According to meat market operators, in the first week since the ban on chicken supplies from Ukraine to Moldova, local producers increased prices by about 5-7%. That is, chilled chicken carcass in wholesale went up from 37-38 lei/kg to 40 lei/kg on average.
Then, for some reasons (industrial consumers have a version on this matter, but they “do not want to spread rumors”), the prices synchronously “went back” to the previous level. But, if before the embargo local poultry farms allowed the possibility of working with large buyers on the terms of deferred payment, now – mainly on prepayment.
It is not profitable for importers of poultry meat from Ukraine to pretend to be “an offended elephant in a china shop” and break the “new reality” with mass deliveries and sharp pressure on prices. Most likely, they will gradually, slowly but surely, work on restoring and increasing the customer base. On the contrast of quality and principles of cooperation.
